This exec spent 30 years at one company, and thinks more people should do the same

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Corporate culture now sees people changing jobs every few years, but this longtime executive proves there’s just as much to learn from spending a career in one place.

After a 30-year tenure at consulting giant Accenture, formerly Arthur Andersen and Co., Larry Solomon chose to retire. But even then, he knew his career wasn’t finished yet. 

The South Jersey-based chief people officer took some time off to recalibrate and found himself starting a new challenge as chief people officer at software engineering service company EPAM Systems. He got to this point thanks to constant growth opportunities at Accenture.  

Solomon’s degree is in finance and management information systems, but he didn’t have a clear idea of what he wanted to do after graduating college. He started working at Arthur Andersen and Co. because he figured there would be more opportunities to try a variety of roles. 

He was right. Solomon got opportunities to travel, join different teams and work on a range of projects. He bounced around from systems analyst to general management to operations to HR and recruiting. 

Solomon’s experience in consulting allowed him to go where he was needed and try different roles at different companies. He said he learned it was more important to understand business before building up specialty skills in a specific department. Even though Solomon remained within the same company, he had to be a more flexible employee and gained new business skills. 

In this edition of Technical.ly’s How I Got Here series, Solomon discusses what kept him at Accenture for 30 years and how it led him to people management in his second act. 

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

What is the benefit of staying with one company for so long? 

I held 10 different roles over that 30-year period. On average, I was in a different role every three years and some of the roles were very, very different. 

It gave me a very well-rounded understanding of not only different cultures and different people but different parts of the business. In a large company that is diversified in nature, it’s important to understand the different aspects of the global business.

I had very different experiences across a 30-year period and did in fact prove that I can do different things and accommodate and adapt to different people and environments and different types of responsibilities.

What’s a specific challenge that stands out to you from 30 years at Accenture? 

In the third trimester of my 30 years with Accenture, I was actually pulled out of HR and I was asked to become the COO of a large piece of Accenture’s government and healthcare business. 

I didn’t have the experience to be the COO at that time, but they thought I could grow into the role. After three months, the CEO left for long-term medical leave. When I’m just starting to understand what’s going on in this business, they’ve now asked me to step up and take the interim CEO role. 

It was an enormous challenge. I was also scared and I was nervous. I didn’t let that get in the way, I made the decisions that I felt comfortable making. I asked for help and support when I wasn’t comfortable and I needed some advice and some expertise. It was one of the best professional learning experiences in my career. 

What do you enjoy about being a chief people officer? 

There’s never a dull moment. There are constant challenges. There are no two situations that are exactly alike and dealing with people is, to some degree, a lot more challenging than dealing on the financial side. 

It’s important to understand not only the professional side of an individual but also the personal side and the relationship side of an individual. In my role, there are lots of well-rounded and thoughtful decisions that I have to make every day that not only affect the business but affect the individual and the individual’s family as well. 

What really keeps me going is just being surrounded by incredibly smart people in the company. You can never stop learning and I’m learning something every week. 

How has working in talent and people management changed over your career? 

When I started my career, the entire value proposition was, here’s what I can do for you, the company, and I’ll accept most or all of what the company was giving me, whether it’s compensation or benefits. There was very little negotiation. 

I think that has flipped and companies have to be a lot more flexible, a lot more creative, a lot more focused on individual skills, wants and values. It’s much more challenging now to not only attract but more importantly, retain people, especially in a hot market. 

It’s key that the company that offers the most flexibility has an edge. Flexibility in terms of compensation, benefits, structure, career path opportunities, traveling, geographic relocations and things of that nature.

What advice would you give someone on a similar career path? 

Flexibility is very important. It has helped me enormously to be open to new ideas, new roles and working with different types of people, because we’re in a very unpredictable world, and it’s going to get more unpredictable going forward. 

Flexibility and adaptability and not taking things so personally are really important to be a well-rounded business leader. 

Another thing is staying curious, asking questions, wanting to learn more and being hungry to learn new things. If you think you know it all, you’re dead, because you don’t.

Understand the business that you’re in. Make sure you understand how the company is organized, the history of the company, how it makes money, who its clients are and who its leaders are. 

Especially when you’re working in a people business, take the time to go the extra mile with your people. Take the time to do more than expected with your people. 

At the end of the day, people are living human beings with wants and needs and desires and lots of stresses outside of their work life. It’s important to understand and grasp what’s going on with an individual to be able to get the most out of them in a business environment.